Series: Routledge Studies in Peace and Conflict Resolution

Analysing the relationship between civil society and the state,
this book lays bare the assumptions informing peacebuilding
practices and demonstrates through empirical research how such
practices have led to new dynamics of conflict. The drive to
establish a sustainable liberal peace largely escapes critical
examination. When such attention is paid to peacebuilding
practices, scholars tend to concentrate either on the military
components of the mission or on the liberal economic reforms. This
means that the roles of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and
the impact of attempting to nurture Northern forms of civil society
is often overlooked. Focusing on the case of Cambodia, this book
seeks to examine the assumptions underlying peacebuilding policies
in order to highlight the reliance on a particular, linear reading
of European / North American history. The author argues that such
policies, in fostering a particular form of civil society, have
affected patterns of conflict; dictating when and where politics
can occur and who is empowered to participate in such practices.
Drawing on interviews with NGO representatives and government
representatives, this volume will assert that while the expansion
of civil society may resolve some sources of conflict, its
introduction has also created new dynamics of contestation. This
book will be of much interest to students of peacebuilding,
conflict resolution, development studies, S.E. Asian politics, and
IR in general.